A leading research and teaching school with expertise in biotechnology, molecular biology, genetics, environmental microbiology, medical microbiology, immunology, biochemistry, protein chemistry and other areas of biological science.

Discovery and Molecular Engineering of Novel Antibiotics

Using natural products as a blueprint, we are able to construct new pharmaceuticals with altered activity and specificity. In particular, the pathways for non-ribosomal peptides are being used as the basis for potential combinatorial biosyntheses. The range of possible new drugs is practically limitless.

We are applying this proprietary technology to the design and production of new antibiotics, immunosuppressants and antiviral compounds. This work is also closely linked to the search for novel microorganisms and their natural products using Australian and Chinese traditional medicines as a defined basis for bioactivity.

Other microbes and their natural products, as well as the mechanism for their production are being studied from a range of Earth’s habitats including volcanoes, Antarctica, hypersaline bays and stromatolites, uranium mines and mineral springs.